Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte embarrassed himself at Monday’s City Council hearing, blaming Bloomberg-era holdovers for his woes, even as he came off as hapless on the question of prison reform — his supposed specialty.

Ponte said he relied on underlings’ advice when he and 20 officials misused city vehicles — but at least one of those underlings, his former first deputy, says that’s not so.

Also a hot topic was the morning’s news that he’d failed to can the person who thought it OK to spy on Department of Investigations probers.

Notably, both that bozo, Deputy Commissioner Gregory Kuczinski (now on modified duty), and his Ponte-tapped predecessor had remarkably limited experience when it came to running the Correction Department’s internal affairs unit. Which is beyond bizarre, when Ponte’s supposed to be cleaning up a troubled agency.

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Why? He said he takes his guidance from City Hall, which apparently relieves him of the need to listen to anyone else.

For three years running, DOC press releases touted Ponte’s reform agenda and his unwillingness to shy away from challenges. Yet, instead of changing the culture at Correction, Ponte seems to have succumbed to it.

Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley captured the hearing’s bottom line quite well: “I don’t believe proper management is in place to meet DOC’s need for bringing about real reform to the city jails.”

Ponte certainly didn’t show himself to be the reform “star” Mayor Bill de Blasio makes him out to be. Rather, he looks like the latest de Blasio commissioner who’ll have to be tossed overboard after being exposed as a rank incompetent.